Kejriwal faces fresh poster attack; parties indulge in potshots

Varanasi: AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal, who is fighting against Narendra Modi in Lok Sabha polls, on Thursday, faced a fresh round of attacks through posters, which wished for his ‘speedy recovery’ along with prayers to give him a ‘sound mind’.

The poster attack came in the midst of growing political activities ahead of Lok Sabha polls on May 12 and on the first day of nomination, which also saw leading parties like BJP, SP and Congress taking pot-shots at each other.

While SP accused BJP and Congress of working with an unofficial partnership, the BJP targetted Union Minister Anand Sharma who was in city along with Raj Babbar for nomination of Congress candidate Ajay Rai.

This is the second poster attack on Kejriwal ever since he arrived here on April 15, when posters were put out across the city including on railway station terming him as 'bhagoda' or deserter.

While earlier posters contained the name of 'Bhagat Singh Kranti Sena', the new posters were released by a hitherto- unknown entity called 'Modi Firebrand National Front'.

The BJP leaders denied having anything to do with both these organisations and on the contrary accused Kejriwal of indulging in cheap publicity stunts.

The Firebrand front also issued a press release to local media, wherein it claimed to have organised a 'prayer meeting' for "sound mental health of Kejriwal".

The front said that Kejriwal has been indulging in strange activities and illogical talks and therefore they organized this prayer meet and issued the posters to request people of Varanasi to pray for Kejriwal.

Meanwhile, Union Minister Anand Sharma also came in for criticism here by BJP soon after he arrived for accompanying Congress candidate Ajay Rai for his nomination.

On his part, Sharma also hit at Modi calling him "arrogant and self-centered".

Speaking to reporters at the party's regional election office here, BJP spokesperson Nalin Kohli said that Sharma has come to Varanasi after working against the interest of small retailers across the country.

Kohli accused Congress of creating problems for livelihood of lakhs of people by planning to bring in FDI into retail sector, for which BJP has expressed strong opposition from "roads to Parliament".

He said that Sharma would have to answer the public of Varanasi and also targetted his guns at global retail giant Walmart.

Kohli said that Walmart has generated only 15 lakh jobs across the world, while India needs 1.5 crore jobs every year, while a total of 1.5 crore jobs could be created during the entire 10-year rule of Congress party at the Centre.

The BJP spokesperson also claimed that Varanasi would emerge as a major cultural centre on the world stage after Modi's victory from.

Amid growing political activities, Samajwadi Party also took potshots at Congress and BJP with its spokesperson for Varanasi elections, Manoj Rai Dhoopchandi accusing the two national parties of conspiring to decide political future of Uttar Pradesh.

He claimed that complaints were filed against SP leader Azam Khan with Election Commission as part of a conspiracy hatched by BJP and Congress, so that Khan becomes weak and the minority vote splits.